<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Six by Shanieomaniac</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26489638">Six</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shanieomaniac/pseuds/Shanieomaniac'>Shanieomaniac</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>How I Met Your Mother</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Artistic Work, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, What-If</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:28:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>520</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26489638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shanieomaniac/pseuds/Shanieomaniac</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Barney and Ted ended their friendship, it took Barney surviving a bus accident to reunite them.</p><p>But what if he hadn't been hit by the bus? Would he still have survived, or was nearly dying the only way for him to live again?</p><p>An artsy what-if about what might have happened if Barney's miracle hadn't happened.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Six</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A short work of mine from ages ago, tweaked slightly and reposted from that *other* website.</p><p>BTW: This work was fully free-written, no dream involved. I... have no idea where it came from. It is what it is.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong> <em>ONE</em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Barney kept trying to tell himself that this wasn’t planned, wasn’t intentional.</p><p>It was all that damn music video’s fault</p><p>
  <em>(afraid)</em>
</p><p>But now he's sitting in a limo with Ted and it has all come crashing down</p><p>His best friend doesn’t want to be friends anymore, all over one stupid night with Robin.</p><p>He gives Ted a free punch which he chooses to use on his groin</p><p>(Who punches someone in the groin?)</p><p>Deep down he wants to believe this isn’t his fault</p><p>It is.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong> <em>TWO</em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He’s exhausted</p><p>Running across Manhattan will do that to you. But all he can think of right now is his best friend is hurt and needs him.</p><p>
  <em>(dying)</em>
</p><p>Stepping off the sidewalk, he looks both ways... and promptly steps back as a bus comes speeding the wrong way down the street.</p><p>He allows himself a moment to ponder what might have been, before heading into the hospital</p><p>Ted needs him.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong> <em>THREE</em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He’s barely into Ted’s room when he realizes he’s made a mistake.</p><p>Ted is fine, it’s him that needs the care.</p><p>
  <em>(shattered)</em>
</p><p>Three steps past the threshold, his former best friend gives him a glare that could melt steel.</p><p>He doesn’t even give Ted a chance to shout.</p><p>He turns and leaves.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong> <em>FOUR</em> </strong>
</p><p><br/>He’s lonely.</p><p>Ever since the hospital, he hasn’t even tried to keep in contact with the rest of the gang. It’s too awkward and painful.</p><p>
  <em>(scared)</em>
</p><p>He just wishes that things could be the way they were before he lost the people he loved most.</p><p>He misses them so much, all four of them; yes, even Ted.</p><p>Especially Ted.</p><p>He wonders if they will ever miss him</p><p>Maybe they already do.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong> <em>FIVE</em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Ted is startled awake.</p><p><em>Who on earth would call at this time of night? </em>He wonders to himself.</p><p>
  <em>(awake)</em>
</p><p>He answers the phone. They’ve found a body.</p><p>Both that night and in the years that would follow, he would try to tell himself it wasn’t his fault. It had been five months since the limo, he wasn’t Barney’s friend anymore. He wasn’t responsible for this.</p><p>Barney’s actions were his own, he tells people. He didn’t cause it and he couldn’t have stopped it. He wasn’t to blame.</p><p>Every time he says it, his heart tells him it's a lie.</p><p>He repeats it again anyway.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong> <em>SIX</em> </strong>
</p><p><br/>He's cold.</p><p>But then, it's November, so that’s to be expected.</p><p>Halloween had come and gone, but he really couldn’t care less. He’d skipped the party. The slutty pumpkin just doesn’t matter anymore.</p><p>
  <em>(lost)</em>
</p><p>Barney is gone. Not just shunned, but completely gone.</p><p>He never realized how much it hurt until now.</p><p>Kneeling by the headstone. he traces the lettering with his fingers, the same six words echoing in his mind that have haunted him since that horrible phone call.</p><p>“Can you ever forgive me, Bro?” He whispers.</p><p>There is no reply</p><hr/><p>
  <strong> <em>ONE</em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He’s exhausted.</p><p>Running across Manhattan will do that to you. But all he can think of right now is his best friend is hurt and needs him.</p><p>
  <em>(living)</em>
</p><p>Stepping off the sidewalk, Barney looks down the one-way street.<br/><br/></p><p>*END*</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>